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1
I
I
Report to divil Rights Commission
Re i Hattiesburg Project* Summer 196^
NOT! 5 If this report or any portion thereof ia made public, please
delete the names of any residents of Hattieshurg who are mentioned
in any connection, except for law enforcement officers or other public
officials.
A superscript indicates the number of an attached document. An asterisk
indicates that the documents are on file in the Jackson office of COFO.
I. NATURE OF TBI PROJECT'S ACTIVITIES
In numbers of volunteers, the Hattiesburg project was the
largest in the state. Although the number fluctuated constantly,
there were generally around 60 volunteers working and living in
Hattiesburg and in Palmers Crossing, a rural community about 3 miles
away
Of the 60, from 25 to 30 worked in the freedom schools,
15 to 20 in voter registration, half a dozen at the community center,
and about 5 in the office
The teachers conducted freedom school classes at six churches,
with a total enrollment of about 600 The courses concentrated mainly
on Negro history and political education A music program was also
offered. The students ranged in age from 8 to 82, and classes were
held from 8 to 11 a m. and 7:30 to 9:30 p. m.
A community center was established in Palmers Crossing offering
day care for young children, recreation for older ones, a health program
and literacy and sewing classes Another community center is being
cleaned and renovated in the downtown area

This file consists of reports made by some of the approximately 300 National Council of Churches clergy who visited Mississippi for 1-3 weeks each during Freedom Summer and the autumn afterwards. Several of the clergy point out the similarities between Mississippi and Nazi Germany. The majority of the reports are from Hattiesburg: one report focuses on threats and intimidation toward Hattiesburg and Palmers Crossing civil rights workers in the summer of 1964; another describes the preparation, work, and number of ministers there during Freedom Summer. In an otherwise favorable report, an unidentified married clerical couple visiting Vicksburg criticizes civil rights workers for their lack of gender equality and describes a demographic survey of black households in the Fourth Precinct that took place. There are two Columbus reports, the first of which reiterates a frequent complaint in the reports here and elsewhere that the lack of working vehicles is one of the biggest hindrances to the success of Freedom Summer. A Jackson report focuses primarily on visits to Jackson clergy and local bigwigs. In one of two Canton reports, a trial in which the U.S. Justice Dept. tried to hold the Madison County court registrar responsible for refusing to register African Americans to vote is described. Calvin Petersen's report about what he learned and observed in Harmony/Carthage, Mississippi, is especially eloquent and detailed. A Shaw report by Charles Harper includes a fascinating selection of quotations from some of the local people he met. A report from Cleveland, Mississippi, discusses the difficulty of bridging the racial divide in that city, and analyzes the economic reasons for whites' insistence on segregation. There's a passionate report on the terror in McComb. Theological students E. J. Reagin and Bruce D. Christie provide 1964 reports from Chicago, Illinois, on tenant organizations in slum neighborhoods and on white Catholic opposition to open housing policies in the Chicago area. Dwight Bozeman describes a confrontation between hostile local whites and civil rights workers in Grenada, Mississippi. There's a report on divisions among civil rights organizations on the March Against Fear. There's a fact sheet on Sunflower County; a report from Mississippi's First District, listing project personnel and the status of community centers, freedom schools, voter registration, and cars there; part of a report from Madison County; and part of a report from Rankin County which concludes with a desperate appeal for, yes, more cars.

Copyright to these documents belongs to the individuals who created them or the organizations for which they worked. The principal organizations have been defunct for many years and copyright to their unpublished records is uncertain. We share them here strictly for non-profit educational purposes. We have attempted to contact individuals who created personal papers of significant length or importance. Nearly all have generously permitted us to include their work. If you believe that you possess copyright to material included here, please contact us at asklibrary@wisconsinhistory.org. Under the fair use provisions of the U.S. copyright law, teachers and students are free to reproduce any document for nonprofit classroom use. Commercial use of copyright-protected material is generally prohibited.

1
I
I
Report to divil Rights Commission
Re i Hattiesburg Project* Summer 196^
NOT! 5 If this report or any portion thereof ia made public, please
delete the names of any residents of Hattieshurg who are mentioned
in any connection, except for law enforcement officers or other public
officials.
A superscript indicates the number of an attached document. An asterisk
indicates that the documents are on file in the Jackson office of COFO.
I. NATURE OF TBI PROJECT'S ACTIVITIES
In numbers of volunteers, the Hattiesburg project was the
largest in the state. Although the number fluctuated constantly,
there were generally around 60 volunteers working and living in
Hattiesburg and in Palmers Crossing, a rural community about 3 miles
away
Of the 60, from 25 to 30 worked in the freedom schools,
15 to 20 in voter registration, half a dozen at the community center,
and about 5 in the office
The teachers conducted freedom school classes at six churches,
with a total enrollment of about 600 The courses concentrated mainly
on Negro history and political education A music program was also
offered. The students ranged in age from 8 to 82, and classes were
held from 8 to 11 a m. and 7:30 to 9:30 p. m.
A community center was established in Palmers Crossing offering
day care for young children, recreation for older ones, a health program
and literacy and sewing classes Another community center is being
cleaned and renovated in the downtown area

Copyright to these documents belongs to the individuals who created them or the organizations for which they worked. The principal organizations have been defunct for many years and copyright to their unpublished records is uncertain. We share them here strictly for non-profit educational purposes. We have attempted to contact individuals who created personal papers of significant length or importance. Nearly all have generously permitted us to include their work. If you believe that you possess copyright to material included here, please contact us at asklibrary@wisconsinhistory.org. Under the fair use provisions of the U.S. copyright law, teachers and students are free to reproduce any document for nonprofit classroom use. Commercial use of copyright-protected material is generally prohibited.